Ashamed of a police force that assists protesters in committing offences

sir – It is often said that society has the police force it deserves. Whatever did we do to deserve ours?

They take the knee, dance with protesters and assist offenders in committing offences (“Patel urges police to get tough on climate protesters”, report, September 17).

Obstructing the highway was an offence when I served in the Metropolitan Police. I’m ashamed of the force these days.

David Tucker

Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire

sir – Do the Metropolitan Police think the public are so gullible that they will accept a “dynamic risk assessment” as a good enough reason for not stopping the disruption of the M25 (report, September 17)?

Surely the best way to prevent the demonstrators from being injured would have been to prevent them from accessing the motorway in the first place.

Brian Norman

Easton Royal, Wiltshire sir – I was glad that one of the police officers on duty on Wednesday, coping with the Insulate Britain protesters on the M25, was so concerned, telling them: “If any of you have any questions, or are in any discomfort or need anything, just let us know.”

Did any officer offer the same help to the hundreds of motorists stuck in the traffic jams – people needing to get to work and urgent hospital appointments, and children trying to to get to school?

Rosemary Corbin

Zeals, Wiltshire

sir – The blockage of the M25 by Insulate Britain protesters should never have happened. I was glad to see it did not occur in the Thames Valley, where, until May this year, I was the police and crime commissioner.

It requires the local superintendent to get a grip of the officers involved. It requires the chief constable to get a grip of his superintendents and his head of traffic police, and it requires the police and crime commissioner to warn his chief constable that his tenure of office will be limited if it ever happens again,

Anthony Stansfeld

Kidlington, Oxfordshire

sir – Norman Tebbit (“Extinction Rebellion must be stopped”, telegraph. co.uk, September 13) believes that elements of society, including environmental activist groups, “have joined in the fun of vandalism and obstruction”. Nothing could be further from the truth.

When I retired after a lifetime of law-abiding work, the last thing I wanted was to sit in a road and be arrested. Our aim is to bring our negligent Government to its senses.

Obstructing a road is not fun. Being arrested is not fun. Going to court is not fun. The future we face if we fail to act now is not fun. The prospect of leaving a ruined world to our grandchildren is not fun.

This is deadly serious.